Grandma Keeps Promise to Have Thanksgiving With Teen She Accidentally Invited

Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench had never met before their Thanksgiving meal

Jamal Hinton, 17, and Wanda Dench, a Phoenix-area grandma, had never met before Thanksgiving but the pair embraced the spirit of the holiday this week with Dench welcoming Hinton to her family.

Hinton’s invitation to the dinner at first came entirely by accident when Dench texted the 17-year-old meaning to text her own grandson. The two exchanged a few messages before a selfie revealed that Hinton had the wrong number. Nonetheless, the grandma did not revoke the invitation when Hinton asked if he could still come. “Of course you can,” she said. “That’s what grandmas do…feed everyone!”

The story quickly exploded on the internet after Hinton posted a screenshot of their exchange on Twitter. “We feel like it was fate that this occurred during such a rough time and right before Thanksgiving,” Wanda’s daughter, Lisa Dench, told the Arizona Republic.

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